Unwritten Loyalties
by HeronRainwater
Summary: "Matt let go of his sister before you let go of Anna. His sister, Jeremy! You know what you owe me? The respect of not making me listen to you explain yourself." A one shot inspired by that quote, featuring Jeremy and Caroline :  - Spoilers for 3x07


Okay, So this was bugging me. Seriously, this idea would NOT leave me alone. I have Science homework to do, and I sat down to do it and then this idea jumped out and wouldn't leave me alone until I wrote it. It's not too good, if I'm honest, but it's an excuse to write me some Caremy (who I completely ship, especially now Beremy is over) and I felt sorry for Jeremy, because he didn't mean to do anything wrong... he's a victim of circumstance. So yeah, I wrote this. Please review if you like it! Thanks :) 

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"_Matt let go of his sister before you let go of Anna. His sister, Jeremy! You know what you owe me? The respect of not making me listen to you explain yourself."_

Bonnie's words rung clear in his head as he slammed his fist into the wall. Alaric had gotten a call for help from Damon and Elena wasn't home yet, let alone talking to him at the moment, so it wasn't like there was anyone to interrupt him working off his frustration. He ignored the throbbing pain in his knuckles and punched out again and again.

"What did the wall ever do to you?" Caroline asked him, suddenly standing next to him. He'd been so absorbed in his anger that he hadn't even heard the front door open.

"What are you doing here?" Jeremy asked, dodging her question and holding his now injured right hand in his left.

"I was looking for Elena, but she's obviously not here…" Caroline replied, trailing off as she reached the end of her sentence. "So why _are_ you trying to break your hand?"

"Why do you care?" He snapped back. "I thought you were pissed at me."

"Why would I be pissed at you?" Caroline frowned.

"Well, that was kinda the impression I got from 'you're an even bigger idiot than I thought, so wake up Jeremy, before you lose everything'," Jeremy answered.

"Oh yeah, that," Caroline bit her lip awkwardly, a guilt that hadn't been there a moment before suddenly all too obvious.

"And you were right," Jeremy continued, once again hitting out at the wall hard enough to make the painting hanging there wobble. Caroline winced sympathetically. "I _screwed up_," He added, emphasising each word with another punch.

"You're gonna break your hand," She pointed out.

"I don't care," Jeremy all but yelled, drawing back his arm for another punch. Caroline stepped sharply in front of him and closed her hand around his fist.

"Well, I do," She replied gently.

"I loved her," Jeremy whispered, his voice quivering. "I didn't break up with her; she _died_, Caroline, I.. I do love Bonnie… but I never stopped loving Anna… and she was there… and I didn't want to lose her again…"

"I know," She assured him, taking the opportunity to examine the extent of his injury. His knuckles were scraped and an angry red colour, his hand looked a little swollen, but that seemed to be it. "It's not broken," She told him, but Jeremy wasn't listening.

"Every time I date someone, it ends badly," Jeremy muttered, not really to anyone other than himself. "Vicki died; Anna died; Bonnie broke up with me… I'm done with love."

"Jeremy, you're only sixteen," Caroline reminded him with a small smile.

"Point being?" He asked, shooting her a look.

"You shouldn't give up on love when you're still a kid," She smiled.

"You're still a kid too," He shot back.

"I'm not giving up on love, and besides: I'm almost eighteen, you're not even seventeen yet," She smirked, watching his face morph into the same pout he'd been using since he was five.

"Almost am," He muttered.

"Sure," She nodded with a grin. "You got any ice cream?"

"You don't have to stay, you know," Jeremy told her. "If you're got some unwritten friend loyalty thing that says you're not allowed to talk to me ever again, I don't mind."

"Did you mean for any of this to happen?" She asked him in retaliation.

"No, of course not," He shook his head.

"And you feel bad, right?" She prompted.

"Bad doesn't cover it," He insisted. "Where are you going with this?"

"I think you need me more right now," She told him. "Besides, I've got a loyalty to the kid who's practically my own little brother, you know." Jeremy smiled at her; it wasn't a whole smile, but it was good enough.

"Thanks, Caroline," He muttered, ducking his head slightly so she wouldn't notice he faint blush in his cheeks. He'd always blushed easily; it'd once been one of her favourite games to time how long it took her to make the boy embarrassed enough to turn red.

"You're welcome" She shrugged. "Now, about that ice cream?"

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So yeah, like it? Please review, but if you're going to criticise... please do it in a constructive way? I'll admit I don't take criticism well, but if you disguise it as an improvement I think I'll struggle though it :) Thanks for reading! 

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